Comelec chief Brillantes’ confirmation deferred for 4th time

The Commission on Appointments hearing on Sixto Brillantes Jr.’s confirmation as Commission on Elections (Comelec) chair was postponed again Wednesday, exactly a week after the CA deferred his confirmation for the third time. The bicameral body has rescheduled the hearing on Brillantes’ confirmation to October 5 as CA members from the House of Representatives are in their budget hearings, said John Frederick Aure, media affairs officer of Senate President Pro Tempore Jose "Jinggoy" Estrada. Estrada chairs the CA committee that is handling Brillantes’ nomination. Last week, the CA deferred Brillantes’ confirmation after the commission ran out of time to hear the opposition filed against Brillantes by Comelec law department head Ferdinand Rafanan. Rafanan’s opposition stems from the Comelec chief’s alleged request for him to convince the Ombudsman to “absolve" Bids and Awards Committee chief Maria Lea Alarkon and lawyer Allen Francis Abaya, whom the Ombudsman suspended in connection with the ballot secrecy folder anomaly, according to Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano. Cayetano has remained critical of Brillantes’ confirmation. The senator has grilled Brillantes on several other issues, including the Comelec’s supposed inaction over the Hello Garci wiretapped conversations between a woman presumed to be former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and a man presumed to be former Elections Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano. Cayetano has also questioned the Comelec’s decision to remove Rafanan from the Comelec-Department of Justice joint panel to probe the alleged irregularities in the 2004 and 2007 polls. "In the context of tuwid na daan, we need noisy people. Removing him is obviously sidelining him," Cayetano had pointed out. — RSJ, GMA News